Driving mechanism



- Feb. :7, 1939. J. E'. REGAN DRIVING MECHANISM original Filed March 8,1955 I5 Sheets-Sheet l J.` E. REGAN K r2,146,687

' DRIVING MECHANISM original Filed March 8, 1935 v s sheets-sheet 2Feb.v 7; 1939.

' v J. E. REGAN 2,146,687

DRIVING MECHANI SM y'original Filed March 9, 1935 f s sheets-smet 5Patented Feb. 1939 12,146,687

UNiTEDsTATEs PATENT OFFICE- DmviNdlfziiANlsM JohnE. Regan, Syracuse, N.Y., assignor to The Lamson Company, Syracuse, N. Y., a corporation ofMassachusetts original application Maren s, 1935, serial No. 9,993'.Divided and this application November 29, 1935, Serial No. 51,977

4 Claims. (oi. 714-301) This invention forming the subject matter of ingthe shaft 31, and separated therefrom by the present application (adivisionrof my copendplain bearings 44, is a floating gear assembly 45.ing application Serial No. 9,993, filed March 8, This assembly comprisesan inner U-shaped ex- 1935) relates to a driving mechanism includingtern-al ring gear 46 and an opposed outer U- 5 a source of power and aplanetary reduction Agear shaped internal ring gear 41. The ring gear 465 and to the structure and operation of such gear. is made up of twosections and is provided at The objects of this invention includethefolthe outer edges of its legs with annular rows lowing, to provide adriving mechanism which of teeth forming the tracks 48 and 49. The legswill automatic-ally react to any overloading and of the gear 41 are alsoprovided at the outer will refrain from imparting driving impulse untiledges with annular rows of teeth forming the 10 the overload has beenrelieved; to provide as a tracks 59 and 5| which encircle the tracks 48part of such mechanism a planetary reduction and 49 respectively. Thetrack 48 of the gear gear by which the driving impulse relative to the46 has fewer teeth than the rack 49, and is on speed of the source ofpower may be altered, such a smaller circle, and the rack 56 of the ringgear gear unit being so instructed that the moving bears a similarrelation to the rack 5|. In addil5 elements thereof run in a lubricant,and including tion the ring gear 41 floats relativ-e tothe ring a drivenshaft and gear elementsrrotatably supgear 46 being provided with acentral iange 52 ported by the driven shaft. terminating in a sleeve 53which enters the space These and other objects will appear from anbetween the legs of the ring gear 46, and is sepaexamination of thefollowing specification and rated therefrom by plain bearings 54. Spaced2O of the drawings which form a part thereof and openings 55 are formedin the flange 52 to rein which; v duce Weight and to facilitate the flowof lubri- Fig. 1 is a view in sideelevation of a driving eating oil, aswill be pointed out hereinbelow. mechanism embodying this invention; Thespur gears 42 of the spider 40 mesh at all Fig. 2 is a pian viewthereof; times with the track 49 of the ring gear 46 and 25 Fig. 3 is asectional view on an enlarged scale with the track 5| of the ring gear41. of the gear unit which forms a part of the driving Mounted upon thecover plate 56 of the casing mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 2; 3| are aplurality of idler pinions 51 (four being Fig. 4 is a sectional viewtaken along the line here provided), which mesh with the track 48 4-4 ofFig. 3; and of the `ring gear 46 and with the track 59 of 30 Fig. 5 isaview in elevation of the spider which the ring gear. 41 (see Fig. 4).The studs 53 of is one eiement of the gear unit. the pinions 51 arereceived at on-e end in a ring The driving mechanism comprises a motor22, 59 which carries a bearingy 6G to receive one end a stepped pulley23, a belt 24, a stepped pulley of a stud shaft 6| on the other end ofwhich 25, a counter shaft 26, sprocket 21, chain 28, the sprocket 29 ismounted. The shaft 9| enters 35 sprocket 29, and a gear reduction unit30. The the casing 3i through an opening 62 in the cover unit 39includes a casing 3| on which is supported plate 56, the openingbeingclosed by a cover 63 the yoke 32 which carries the shaft 2.6, on thefastened to the plate 55 and provided with a bearends of which are fixedthe pulley 25 and sprocket ing 64 vfor the shaft 6|. Pinned to the shaft6| 21. The motor 22 andl unit 30 are supported upon is a gear 65 whichmeshes with a gear 65 rotato a block or plate 33. The motor 22 rests ona bed able about the shaft 31 upon plain bearings 61. 35 pivotallymounted upon the block 33 and is The idler pinions 51 are of suicient.width to yieldably held by a tension device 36, which enmeshsimultaneously with the gear 66,`the track gages both the motor casingand the yoke 32, so 48 lof the ringgear 46 andthe track 50 of the thatthe belt 24 it taut regardless of whichA steps ring gear 41, the teethof the gear 66 and the .15 of the pulleys are engaged. The tensiondevice 36 track 48 being equal in size, number and dimenyieldablyopposes any tendency of the motor bed sion. The drive from the motor 22to the 35 to rock forwardly toward the pulley and loosen sprocket 29 is.tranmitted through the gears 65 the tautness of the belt. and 66 and theidler pinions 51 to the ring gear Mounted at the center of the casing 3|is a 46 and the ring gear 41 causing them to rotate 50 main shaft 31supported by the walls of the in the opposite directions. The ring gear46 and casing on bearings 38 and 39. One end of the ring gear 41 actsimultaneously upon the spider shaft 31 projects beyond the casing 3|and on gears 42 through the racks 49 and 5| and rotate it may be iiXed agear or sprocket or other drivthe spider in th-e well known manner,thereby 5 ing instrumentality. Keyed to the shaft 31 withcausing therotation of the shaft 31. in the casing and adjacent the bearing 39 isThe gear reduction unit thus described is very a spider 40 (see Fig. 5).Projecting from the compact and, with the exception of the sprocketspider 49 are a plurality of studs 4| on which 29, all the gear elementsare completely enclosed rotate freely a plurality of spur gears 42. Aring within the casing 3|. These enclosed elements 69 43 receives theends of the studs 4|. Surroundrun in oil or other lubricant introducedthrough 60 an inlet closed by a breather plug 68 and drained off throughan outlet normally closed by a plug 69. The lubricant reaches the plainbearings 44 on the shaft 31 through a plurality of holes 1i) formed inthe sleeves 53 of the ring gear 41 and a plurality of holes 1| throughthe base of the reverse gear 46. The bearing 64 for the shaft 6I islubricated through a hole 12 in the cover 63.

The other bearings are, as shown in the drawings, so exposed that thelubricant flows freely thereto.

The spider 40 is keyed to the main shaft 31 and the speed and directionof travel thereof is determined by the relative ratio of the number ofteeth in they ring gears 46 and 41. In the unit shown in the drawingsthe shaft 31 is rotated in a direction opposite to that of the shaft 26.In some other ratios the shaft 31 may be rotated in the same directionas the shaft 26,

The amount of reduction obtained by the use of a unit of thisconstruction can be varied as desired. In the one illustrated a ratio ofapproximately 175 to 1 is obtained, the gear 65 having fourteen teeth,the gear 66 having twentyeight teeth, each pinion 51 having fourteenteeth, the track 48 having twenty-eight teeth, the track D havingfifty-six teeth, the track 139 having thirty teeth, the track 5l havingfifty-eight teeth, and each spider gear 42 having fourteen teeth. Thedesired amount of reduction may be selected without regard to thedirection of travel given thereby to the shaft 31 since the motor may bereversed if necessary. However if a definite direction is desired it ispossible toselect a combination of gears to select a ratio which willgive the desired direction of rotation.

In order to increase or decrease the speed of travel of the shaft 31 thetracks and gears shown may be replaced by other tracks and gears ofdifferent pitches, diameters, etc. It will be noted that, since all therevolving members are supported by or around the shaft 31, these changescan be made without disturbing the centers of the racks and gears. Hencecomplete assemblies of gear units having various ratios may be preparedand kept on hand for use in the housing whenever a change in the speedof the sprocket is desired.

In case the motor 22 should be overloaded, as for example, if any jam orblockage should take place in the driven mechanism, the supply of powerthereto will be automatically cut off, the strain on the motor 22increasing the tendency of the motor bed 35 to rock forwardly so thatthe tension device 36 will yield and the belt 24 be slackened, allowingthe motor to run freely without driving the pulley 25.

I claim:

1. A gear reduction unit comprising a casing, a driven shaft supportedcentrally of the casing for rotation therein, a drive shaftsupported bysaid casing parallel to said driven shaft, a gear fixed to said driveshaft, a gear rotatable about said driven shaft and in mesh withsaid'rst-Inentioned gear, a plurality of pinions carried by said casingand in mesh with said rotatable gear, a floating gear assembly supportedby said driven shaft and rotatable independently thereof by saidpinions, and a spider keyed to said driven shaft and including aplurality of spur gears driven by said oating gear assembly whereby saiddrive shaft actuates said driven shaft.

2. A gear reduction unit comprising a casing, a driven shaft supportedcentrally of the casing for rotation therein, a drive shaft supported bysaid casing parallel to said driven shaft, a floating gear assemblysupported by said driven shaft and rotatable independently thereabout,said gear assembly consisting of an inner U-shaped ring gear having apair of spaced external gear tracks and an outer U-shaped ring gearhaving a pair of spaced internal gear tracks in alinement with thetracks of the inner gear, a spider keyed to the driven shaft, andincluding a plurality of spur gears constantly in mesh with one of saidinternal gear tracks and the external gear track in alinement therewith,a plurality of idler pinions carried by said casing and constantly inmesh with the other of said internal gear tracks and the external geartrack in alinement therewith and means carried by said drive shaft forrotating said pinions in unison and thereby through the gear assemblyand spider rotating said driven shaft.

3. A gear reduction unit a driven shaft supported ing for rotationtherein, a drive shaft supported by said casing parallel to said drivenshaft, a floating gear assembly supported by said driven shaft androtatable independently thereabout, said gear assembly consisting of aninner U- comprising a casing, centrally of the casshaped ring gearhaving a pair of spaced external gear tracks, and an outer U-shaped ringgear having a pair of spaced internal gear tracks in alinement with thetracks of the inner gear, a spi-der keyed to the driven shaft, andincluding a plurality of spur gears constantly in mesh with one of saidinternal gear tracks and the external gear track in alinement therewith,a plurality of idler pinions carried by said casing and constantly inmesh with the other of said internal gear tracks and the external geartrack in alinement therewith, a gear rotatable about the driven shaftand constantly in mesh with said pinions and a gear carried by saiddrive shaft and in mesh with the gear rotatable about the driven shaftfor rotating said pinions in unison and thereby through the gearassembly and spider rotating said driven shaft.

4. A gear reduction unit comprising a casing a driven shaft supportedcentrally of the casing for rotation therein,

ently thereof, said gear assembly consisting of an inner ring gearhaving a pair of spaced external gear tracks, one of said tracks beingon a larger circle than the other of said tracks, and an outer ring gearhaving a pair of spaced internal gear tracks in alignment with thetracks of the inner ring gear, the track of the outer ring gear inalignment with that track of the inner ring gear which is on the largercircle being on a larger circle than the other track of the outer ringgear, a spider keyed to the driven shaft and including a plurality ofspur gears constantly in mesh with the aligned tracks of the inner andouter ring gears on the larger circles, a plurality of idler pinionscarried by the casing constantly in mesh with the other aligned tracksof the inner and outer ring gears, a drive shaft and means actuated bysaid drive shaft for rotating said pinions, and, through the gearassembly and spider rotating said driven shaft.

JOHN E. REGAN.

a floating gear assembly D supported by said shaft and rotatableindepend-

